Apple’s stock tumbles after 3Q financial call

Mac sales are the best they’ve ever been, iPhones are selling like crazy, and Apple reported a profit of over $1 billion dollars for the third quarter of 2008.

So, of course, the their stock is tumbling.

Apple’s stock has seen its biggest drop in 6 years after the conference call yesterday afternoon mapped out some of Apple’s plans for the future. There was also discussion of CEO Steve Job’s health – and apparently stock holders didn’t like the answer they received.

When asked about Steve’s health Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer stated “Steve loves Apple. He serves at the pleasure of Apple’s boar…he has no plans to leave Apple. Steve’s health is a private matter.”

That’s not a terribly encouraging answer, and is sure to fuel the fires of speculation about Steve’s over all well-being.

Another element to fuel speculation was Apple’s mentioning of a “product transition” that would be offered at price points competitors can’t match. Lower prices mean lower profits, and stock holders are jumping ship.

The “product transition” statement has already fueled the fires of speculation, with many siting long rumored redesigned Macbooks and Macbook Pros as the “mystery product”. While, we may certainly see a new Macbook line in the near future, Apple has never been a company that sold their computers on the cheap…so I seriously doubt that’s that they’re talking about.

I think its far more likely that the company is referring to a transition in the iPod market. Let’s face it – they’ve sold so many of those things they’re really going to have to kick it up a notch to keep consumers interested.

Whatever the case may be, Apple’s stock is on a huge downward spiral today which will most likely level out soon…then start climbing back up. Apple’s stock routinely falls after their quarterly reports come out…so now might be a good time to buy.

Comments

This irritates the hell out of me every time it happens. I have a large investment in Apple, when I see results like Apple posted yesterday I’m downright giddy. How anyone could take something negative away from what was reported yesterday is beyond me. Everything was better than projected, BUT Apple backed off on their 4th Quarter earning projections, so everyone starts selling their stock. More proof that the Stock Market is anything but logical. Apple may be backing off of their projections, but odds are they’ll exceed the original projections when the 4th Quarter numbers are actually released – IN 3 MONTHS!

In the mean time I’ll do exactly what I always do when I see the stock prices of a great company like Apple tumble – I’ll be buying more of it! LOTS MORE!

Anyone who owns APPL stock does so because they believe in the company, not any particular person at the company. While Jobs may be a driving force, he isn’t the only one at the company making decisions. I’ve owned the stock for many years and have no intention of selling it just because of some silly analyst saying that I should.

Where is Apple going in the future? Probably to #1 in the sales arena, because they have the only double play computer available: The best of the Mac, and if you really need to run that Windows stuff, you can do that too, and better than any current Windows machine out there.

A new ‘Book with the quad core processor (announced, due 3rd Q this year) would put Apple over the top, and stuffed with 4GB of ram wold make for a fine machine for anyone, anywhere.

Snow Leopard will have better integration for iCal and Mail with Exchange, and that can drive sales based on the number of people who just need email, calendar, and Office. That covers a lot of the executive suite. And carrying a Mac says “I’m smart and run a cool company.”

“Apple has never been a company that sold their computers on the cheap”..
Well here in the Netherlands they do. We can buy iMac’s at the Dynabyte, witch is a really mainstream computer store, for less than the price at the Premiums Reseller. And at the Mediamarket, a discounter, there’s a serious Apple corner, with -still- the ordinary prices. But Apple goes mainstream here in Holland thats for sure.